Beer: Ratings & Reviews

Reviews by studentofbeer:

i was a bit worried about this beer because after i bought it i noticed it was brewed nov. 23, 2004, basically a whole year ago. and it had been sitting on the shelves at bevmo since then.

but there wasn't anything to worry about, it was delicious.

it's a really dark purple/brown color with a sand-colored head. very creamy looking.

the aroma is quite wonderful--black currant and black cherry mostly with yeasty and sour undertones. a bit of alcohol in the nose, but it blends well. really fruit-forward with a yeasty tang.

the taste follows closely with the aroma--currant, sour cherry, with a nice slightly sour/bitter finish. rich, flavorful and dark with plenty of fruit in the front and some herbal, earthy flavors rounding it out. almost some latte, really light milk chocolate flavor in the bitterness. very wine-like in many ways.

More User Reviews:

Patr of my "new beer Sunday",poured a deep dark somewhat hazy brown with an almost non existant head.Some definent phenolic smokiness in the aromas along with some cloves and spiced cherries wich makes for a pretty good combination,mouthfeel seemed a bit harsh at first very prickly but rounded out more nicely as it warmed and as we drank more.Flavors of cherry and clove dominate up front finishing with a dark chocolate note that lingers thru the finish.A solid beer maybe could use sometime to sit but I liked the 2004 a little bettter.

Appearance  This ale is a thick, heavy, dark brown in color like a chocolate milk shake with no head.

Smell  There actually is a good amount of chocolate in here. Its mated to some deep, need-to-cellar malts that show some complexity but hint at a much more prosperous future. There are some overripe fruits here as well, giving this one the classic BSDA bouquet with a leaning towards chocolate.

Taste  Tastes like chicken! I mean, chocolate! This is actually quite unusual. It has a big chocolate liqueur-kind of flavor. I tasted some Dekuyar and Godiva for comparison purposes. Its obviously not THAT intense but there are definitely similarities (PS  I actually prefer the cheaper Dekuyar).

The malts are big but need some time to grow. The alcohol is unabashed, showing little restraint. All in all, this is a good BSDA that can get even better.

Mouthfeel  I was disappointed in this area. I thought it was thin, barely medium-bodied, and showed an uncomfortable alcohol sting that will only increase with cellaring.

Drinkability  Well, Im not pouring this one down the sink, thats for sure. This is another excellent effort by Unibroue, although I think hands down the Edition 2004 was far superior.

Update  I busted a late 04 offering from the cellar in Jan 2006. Man, was this thing opened up.

Its like an entirely new beer. The raw bakers chocolate is still there, but much less dominant. The malts opened up wonderfully. They are huge, sweet, gooey, and full of Belgian yeast. The alcohol was just right on as well. Im upping a few of my ratings and hording this lone cellaring sample to myself.

This is THE prime cellaring candidate. I wouldnt go a day longer than two years and probably one to one and a half at best. Opened up, this ale is super.

Overall my guess is this brew didnt mellow over time. It feels thinner, boozier, and a bit harsh but yeasty in a good Belgian way. What I dont understand is why I dont get much if any malt.

I do love me some Unibrow, so I will be back to the brewery. I doubt ill have another chance at this 05, but if I did have a choice of this and something else aged, I prolly try something else. Also, id love to taste this brew after a couple years.

I bought a dusty bottle of this beer because I wanted to see how it's held up over the years.

It poured relatively flat with no head at all, only a 3mm appearance of head that disappeared to nothing. Immediately, it looked thick and syrupy.

The alcohol is coming off on the nose, but on the plus side- there are figs and currants/ dried fruits in the nose.

Mouthfeel is almost completely flat. I think this bottle just didn't retain it's CO2. There wasn't much of a pop when I released the cork.

Taste is butterscotch (diacetyl) and caramel/ raisins. Finish is dry and slightly bitter.

It might have been better to drink the beer my glass was made for- Gulden Draak. However, I'd wager to say this was just a bad bottle. I can imagine it in a better state. Either that, or it didn't get better with age, as some reviewers expected.

I found this beer recently in some little hole in the wall place in NH. The beer waas a very dark brown, with minimal head. It had a cery pleasant fruity chocolate smell to it, and had a sweet taste, a chocolate molasses taste. I thought it would feel heavier in my mouth, but it had a surprisingly light carbonated feel. A wonderful beer to drink, and I will be heading back to the afore mentioned hole in the wall to find some more.

A - Pulling the cork yields a small but definite pop. Poured into a tulip. Pours a somewhat murky deep amber color. Very little head, and what is there doesn't last long.

S - When I first pulled the cork, I though I caught a definite tart aroma, which was troubling. After pouring, there is a very mild tart aroma, but nothing to suggest vinegar. A lot of dark fruit (raisin and fig) with a bit of tart cherry. Also, quite a bit of caramel malt and a bit of brown sugar.

Smell: Estery and fusel alcohol are noticeable, ripe and sharp tropical fruit with suggestions of white peppercorn and parsley.

Taste & Mouth Feel: Mildly crisp and somewhat smooth, medium body with a slickness on the tongue. Ripe fruit on top of a deep malt sweetness, mild phenols and a slightly brash alcohol keep the sweetness at bay. Finishes with little other than a lingering herbal and toasted malt flavor.

Drinkability & Notes: Decent but not the epic release youd expect. The core brands have more clout IMO.

750 mm bottle, corked and caged, served slightly chilled into a goblet.
Appearance: Pours dark as night, a very deep chestnut body with a one finger beige head that drops to a cap and collar after a few minutes. Gorgeous, sheet lacing drapes the goblet.
Aroma: Nice complexities in the nose. Clove, cinnamon, and freshly ground black pepper, an abundance of dark fruits drenched in dry sherry, a musty yeast note, and some fresh Concord grapes.
Mouthfeel: Dry and satiny, medium bodied, with warming alcohol. Notable yeast twang.
Taste: Slightly vinous, with dark fruits(prunes and dates), spices, cotton candy sugars, and a significant warming alcohol presence. Dates and prunes offer up a sweetness that is eclipsed by by spices and some heavy handed alcohol as it warms. Anise enters the picture midway through and lasts through the finish. Hops and yeast bitterness have an earthy outdoorsy character. Anise, dry sherry, and bitter earthy yeast take over the room temperature finish.
Drinkability: Powerful stuff here. No effort to disguise the big alcohol here, and that severely hinders drinkability. I think this one needs to lay down and sleep for several months, and let the complexities mellow together. This one is harsh and biting right now.

Large bottle, corked and caged with "2005 on the top metal piece. Wooha, this is more bold/large/flavorful/assertive brew from those Belgian brewers from Canada @ Unibroue. Pours a rich tone of dark mahogony. Murky. Head is long lasting, fluffy and pillowy. Lots of well developed and stringy lacing. Nose is of dark malts, raisins,alcohol. Boldly flavored with notes of leather, smoke, figs and raisins .Also boasts a buttery mouthfeel and obviously contains healthy amounts of candi sugar. Strong with alcohol present, but not overpowering. of course, my wife would probably not agree with that last statement. This is strong, hearty stuff, and not for everybody.
I'm sure a year of two in the bottle could only make this brew better.

Bottle poured into my Chimay goblet. Appears a very, very dark brown with surprisingly little head. Smell portends various dark fruits, with cherries and raisins present. Taste follows smell; lots of dark fruit with enough depth to make this one interesting. Mouthfeel is very much to style, with a middle-of-the-road viscosity. A perfect brew for this chilly and rainy autumn evening. Easy drinking, and quite the creeper. A treat in every sense of the word.

Received this well-aged gem in my first trade, with Zach from The North Brewery. Very excited to try this 9+ year old beauty.

Poured into tulip (my chalice is at school); deep chestnut brown with a moderate fizzy tan head that fades after a bit into nothing but a ring of tiny bubbles. Smells very vinous...tannins abound, smells almost like a flanders red at times. Dark fruit and tart cherry. There is also some sweetness of brown sugar and vanilla, toffee, char and oak. Taste follows nose, very complex. Sour and dry tannins, dark fruit, tart cherry, raisins, brown sugar, vanilla, toffee, char, leather, oak, booze...the most "sipping beer" I've ever had. Mouthfeel is slick and full, very low carbonation but it still tickles the tongue. Overall, after reading some of the reviews I was a bit worried as to the age on this one but I was worried for nothing. Although the sour tannic flavors are a new experience to me, at least within this style, they're not unwelcome and the end result is very complex and delicious.

Very dark murky brown appearance, fluffy rising tan head of close to an inch in height. Laces in spaced strings and dots. Aromatic, lightly perfumey with yeast, lemon, and mink oil. Mouthfeel is a bit too fleeting for me, carbonation medium. Interesting start, coal, raisins, and plums, briefly very malty. Turns mincey and nutmeg spicy mid mouth and finishes brightly with hops and a citrus uptick. Slightly woody and leathery in the aftertaste. Alcohol is noticeable, but decently hidden in the relative complexity. I enjoyed this much more than the 2004, but that's probably just my tastes, that run more toward darker, sweeter, and fruitier Belgian styles.

This poured to a very dark brown and black with hints of ruby. The head is small and there's no lace.

The smell is very nice, being strong and full of dark fruits and malts. The taste can't quite keep up, though. It's like a more alcoholic and less flavorful version of Maudite. Similarly, the mouthfeel is a little thin. Drinkability is good for the alcoholic content, though.

This is difficult to review because I've never experience any beer quite like it.
Pours and black-amber with a smallish tan head that disappeared completely very fast.
Aroma is sweet toasted malt and cola (never smelled that in a beer before) with a hint of alcohol.
Taste is very complex...cola, prunes,raisins, oranges.
Aftertaste is slightly cloyingly sweet with an orange peel drying.
Slight alcohol warming as it settles and goes down.
I am honestly confused as to what to put for drinkability....do I want another one? Yes. But definitely not tonight...and probably not for a while. This is a special, unique brew to be enjoyed as a 'once-in-a-while' treat...slowly...very slowly.

Taste: Sweeet malt flavor that includes dark berry and some mild yeastie effects with an earthy but outer-worldly herbal and fruity hops with a bold tart finish. Overall very complex and tasty, I really couldn't get enough of this, I compared this brew to a fine *gulp* wine. The heady fruity malted flavors coupled with the amazing array of hop complexity made this one endlessly enjoyable. A perfect five is very rare, and this one is one of only a few that I've given out.

Appearance: I was concerned at first – it poured with nearly no head, only the smallest ring of bubbles around the glass. Color is a deep reddish brown, with a slight cloudiness. No lacing, just a small ring of foam.

Smell: A deep malty sweetness, cherries, and an unexpected funkiness.

Taste: Wow, not what I was expecting. This is far from the usual strong Belgian character that Unibroue is so well known for. This beer has a real Oud Bruin flavor, with an alcoholic kick! A slight sourness, deep musty malts mixing with fruits like cherry and blackberry. It’s earthy, slightly sweet on the tongue, but finishing long, pleasantly alcoholic and dry. I haven’t had a beer with this complex sweet / sour thing coming from anywhere but Belgium. This is an extraordinary beer. Reading the other reviews, I wonder if this bottle was handled strangely. But thank the beer gods that the depanneur I got this from has 7 or 8 more – I’m picking up a few of these babies, and enjoying this one again.

This beer was not at all what I was expecting. I’m well versed in the Unibroue lineup, living as I do in Montreal. But this beer has quite different characteristics from any that I’ve tried from this exceptional brewery. I wish that Unibroue had a regular lineup beer like this one.

Pours an opaque magenta muck stacked with an ashy tan fuzz.
At first, the nose rings with the acrid, sharp, metallic pangs of rusting tin and roadside mufflers. It goes away over time, or at least relocates to the periphery. In it place are much more amiable and benign scents of fudge, green raisins, figs, white peppercorns, and cilantro.
The sip brings an intial caramel fudge notion, rich and sweet. Then the floor collapses into a sheer tartness or lime juice, balsamic vinegar, and sour cherries, along with an acidic, oaky Pinot Noir notion. In all honestly, the tartness was rather unpleasant right away....or at least shocking and sort of unwelcome. But again, with time, offsetting and complimentary malt tones fill in the gaps. Figs, and dates, and raisins, and plums, and currants don't so much depose the tartness as join it and make it complete. When this has properly breathed, the sweet/tart interplay is entrancing. A vanilla pod essence then grows, and quickly becomes the prevailing force. The middle sees Unibroue's calling card yeastiness bring its typical pineapple-apricot-tangerine-black pepper hues. It lingers, along with a resurgence of fudge and clusters of remaining currants. Semi-dry on the close, but without much voice from any hops. The alcohol is generally muted, but tracers of bourbon, brandy, and dark rum are shot off on occasion.
All this is wrapped in the thickness of 1% milk, its not acutely tacky, cloying, or sticky, but it leans that direction at times. The carbonation struggles, but keeps the diverse pieces in line.
I didn't much care for the first pour, but this tranformed like Optimus Prime into something I could dig. It's not Uni's crown jewel, and it doesn't live up to the bar set by '04, but this is interesting above all else, and certainly worth a whirl.

Unibroue yeasty aroma and aggressive corriander and other spices incuding pepper, cloves, lemon and coca-cola carmel and fizziness, and mid-sip other dark fruitiness. Bit of roastiness, maltiness and wooden barrel chips. Very different and much better and bolder than 2004.

Bottle. Spicy, herbal, malty aroma, reminiscent of Belgian dubbel and saison. Opaque, brown/black color with a frothy, mostly diminishing tan head. Very fine bubbles in head with minimal lacing. Flavor a complex mixture of acidity, bitterness, herbal and spicy flavors with some fruitiness and a slight soy sauce overtone. Some warming from the 10% alcohol. Aftertaste also a complex blend of the flavor components, sourness, spice and alcohol being the most prominent aspects. Effervescent mouthfeel that coats the mouth for several seconds after each sip with a long finish. Very complex. Not as immediately likable as the Unibroue Edition 2004, but with each sip, this beer became more and more interesting, Tastes like a mix of dubbel, saison and oud bruin.

The cork released easily with a "plop"; and it poured a clear, deep brown with chestnut highlights beneath a full head of rocky tan foam. The head held extremely well, and it left walls of clingy, creamy lace about the glass.

In the mouth it was creamy and smooth with just a delicate caress on the tongue from the super-fine bubbled, bottle-conditioned natural carbonation. I'd expected it to be a little more zesty, but it was not.

The flavor was initially gently sweet with brown sugar, a thin drizzle of more sweetish molasses, dark-skinned fruits (plum/prune, raisin), and a touch of mustiness and spice. As it warmed in the mouth it became fuller, revealing some supple, grainy and caramelish maltiness beneath, and a firm bitterness and some muddled leafy and earthy hop flavors to the side. Towards the swallow it presented more soft notes of raisin, and some clear cardamom, anise, and subtle clove. It finished silkily - passing almost without notice from that palate as the lingering aftertaste swirled with soft etheral spice.

The alcohol never showed, even towards the end of the entire 750 ml., and I can't think of a beer that's more of a "velvet hammer" than this one! It's oh so subtle, smooth, and supple! Remarkable!!! There are still a few bottles out there, and I intend to find at least a half a dozen of them!!!